DISPATCHES FROM THE ARID LANDS

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Call someplace Paradise . . .

For years I’ve enjoyed taking brief holidays in LaJolla, that upscale city on the high rocks north of San Diego. It is a beautiful place, a once desert land of cactus turned into a piece of heaven by man and imported water.

But I read today in the New York Times all is not well in Paradise. Even if a local resident and former presidential candidate, Mitt Romney, may think otherwise. The rocky area on LaJolla Cove was sealed off from humans some time ago, and now birds and sea lions have apparently taken it over and left their mark. Primarily that stain in Paradise is bird poop, and the emanating stench is worrying local business owners, particularly those restauranteurs with outdoor tables.